Cut the mustard
To cut the mustard is to perform well, e.g., "We need a better catcher; this one just doesn't cut the mustard."[1] The phrase began as American slang in the early twentieth century.
Etymology
"Mustard" has meant "something superlative" since the early 1900s. In American slang around the same time, the phrase "the proper mustard" described something genuine and "cutting the mustard" began to describe something up to par.[2]
References
- ^ Ammer, Christine (7 May 2013). The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 106. ISBN 0-547-67753-7.
- ^ Dent, Susie (November 12, 2012). "In a nutshell, cutting the mustard by the skin of your teeth: popular idioms explained". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
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